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Goodman was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 20, 1952. His father, Leslie Francis Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack when Goodman was two years old; his mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a retail store associate and waitress at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que,[1][2][4] and took in laundry to support the family.[3] He has a sister, Elisabeth Horvath, and a brother, Leslie.[5] He is of Irish, English, Welsh, and German ancestry.[4]

After an injury ended his college football career, Goodman decided to become a professional actor and left Missouri for New York City in 1975.[6] With a small bankroll from his brother, Goodman found an apartment on Ninth Avenue and 51st Street near Manhattan's Theater District and unsuccessfully tried to make money as a bartender and waiter. However, he eventually found modest success in voice-overs, commercials, and plays. He was the person who slapped himself (uttering the famous tagline, "Thanks... I needed that!") in an iconic TV ad for Skin Bracer by Mennen.[7] Goodman also performed off-Broadway and in dinner theatres, before landing character roles in films during the early 1980s.[6]

In 1985, Goodman originated the role of Pap Finn in Big River. For his role, he received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; he is also featured on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. He had a long history of appearances on late night comedy shows, and was the first guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which won him the series' "First Guest Medal" (Goodman joked he would pawn the medal for a bottle of cheap Scotch).[citation needed] Goodman has hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live 13 times, while also making seven cameo appearances as Linda Tripp during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and cameoing on the season 28 finale hosted by former SNL cast member Dan Aykroyd.[6] With little to no prior experience in TV comedy, Goodman auditioned to be a cast member for Jean Doumanian's tumultuous 1980–1981 SNL season, and was rejected, along with up-and-coming comedians Jim Carrey, Paul Reubens, and Robert Townsend.[8]

Goodman on the red carpet at the Emmys on September 11, 1994

In 1982, Goodman started landing movie roles, beginning with a small role in Eddie Macon's Run. During this period he continued to work on the stage, starring in Big River from 1985 to 1987. Before landing his big break into movies in 1986, with a significant comedic role in True Stories,[9] he had a brief cameo as Otis in Sweet Dreams. In the former film, his character Louis Fyne memorably utters the line: "I'm 6' 3" and maintain a consistent panda bear shape", establishing his trademark size as an important part of many characters he would later play on film and stage - and in the latter film, he plays the `guy who sold Patsy's husband the car' he would destroy in the Demolition Derby.

In 2011, Goodman was a guest star on the third season of Community. He also voiced a character in RAGE voicing Dan Hagar, and played movie studio chief Al Zimmer in the Academy Award–winning live action film The Artist, as well as Best Picture nominee Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the same year. Also in 2011, Goodman starred in Kevin Smith's foray into horror in Red State playing ATF Agent Joseph Keenan. In February 2012, it was reported that Goodman would reunite with Roseanne Barr for a new NBC pilot titled Downwardly Mobile. The series would have had Goodman portray a bachelor mechanic and all-around clown as a resident in a trailer park and would have used the standard multiple-camera setup traditionally found in sitcoms;[17] however, the series' option wasn't picked up by the network. Other prominent roles include performances in Flight (2012) and The Monuments Men (2014). With his well-received supporting roles in The Artist (2012) and Argo (2013), Goodman accomplished the rare feat of appearing in back-to-back winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.

In 2013, Goodman received rave reviews for his performance as North Carolina Senator Gil John Biggs in Amazon's Alpha House, a political comedy written by Garry Trudeau.[19] The show centers around Goodman's character, a retired UNC basketball coach, and three other Republican senators living in a house on Capitol Hill. Goodman has spent the summer of 2014 shooting Season Two.

Goodman was cast in In the Electric Mist (2009) as Julie "Baby Feet" Balboni. At one time, he was slated to play the role of Ignatius Reilly, the main character of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The story takes place almost entirely in New Orleans. However, the movie was never put into production. The Princess and the Frog where he lent his voice as Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff also takes place in New Orleans. Goodman was featured in Treme. Treme focuses on a group of interconnected people trying to rebuild their lives in post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Goodman played Creighton Bernette, a Tulane English professor.

Goodman and his wife, Anna Beth, live in New Orleans. As of October 2013, their daughter, Molly Evangeline Goodman is 23 and in film school.[20]

In a 2009 interview, Goodman was open about his alcoholism, saying, "I don't know how much the old Jackie Daniel's franchise ruined my memory, which is going anyway, because of my advancing decrepitude. I had a 30-year run, and at the end I didn't care about anything. I was just fed up with myself. I didn't even want to be an actor anymore."[21] In October 2012, he said, "If I'd picture in my mind a drink—usually straight out of the bottle—I couldn't not do it." While acting in plays, "I'd have the shakes so bad I'd have to have a drink to get through the show. I'm lucky I never got fired." Eventually, he "bottomed out." Goodman has been sober since 2007,[3] and tries to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every morning.[20] By August 2010, Goodman had lost 100 pounds. He has stated that exercising and keeping a journal of food he consumed are what helped him keep the weight off.[22]